Pope Francis Asks "Please, in your daily prayer, ask for peace" and says Jesus "the Child God...comes to renew the world and transform our lives" FULL TEXT

POPE FRANCIS at the GENERAL AUDIENCE in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall
on Wednesday, 12 February 2025
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The text below also includes unread parts that are given as pronounced.

Catechesis Cycle – Jubilee 2025. Jesus Christ our hope. I. The childhood of Jesus. 5. “For you a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:11). The birth of Jesus and the visit of the shepherds
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In our Jubilee journey of catechesis on Jesus, who is our hope, today we focus on the event of his birth in Bethlehem.
The Son of God enters history by becoming our traveling companion and begins to travel while he is still in the womb.

The evangelist Luke tells us that as soon as he was conceived he went from Nazareth to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth; and then, with the pregnancy now complete, from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census. Mary and Joseph are forced to go to the city of King David, where Joseph was also born. The long-awaited Messiah, the Son of the Most High God, allows himself to be censused, that is, counted and registered, like any other citizen. He submits to the decree of an emperor, Caesar Augustus, who thinks he is the master of all the earth.
Luke places the birth of Jesus in "an exactly datable time" and in "an exactly indicated geographical environment", so that "the universal and the concrete touch each other" (Benedict XVI, The Infancy of Jesus, 2012, 77). God who comes into history does not undermine the structures of the world, but wants to illuminate and recreate them from within.
Bethlehem means "house of bread". There the days of Mary's birth are fulfilled and there Jesus is born, the bread that came down from heaven to satisfy the hunger of the world (see John 6:51). The angel Gabriel had announced the birth of the messianic King in the sign of greatness: "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk 1:32-33).
However, Jesus is born in a completely unprecedented way for a king. In fact, "while they were there, the days came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn" (Lk 2:6-7). The Son of God is not born in a royal palace, but in the back of a house, in the space where the animals are.
Luke thus shows us that God does not come into the world with high-sounding proclamations, he does not manifest himself in clamor, but begins his journey in humility. And who are the first witnesses of this event? They are some shepherds: men with little education, smelly because of constant contact with animals, living on the margins of society. Yet they practice the profession with which God himself makes himself known to his people (see Gen 48:15; 49:24; Ps 23:1; 80:2; Is 40:11). God chooses them as recipients of the most beautiful news ever to resound in history: "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people: for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:10-12).

The place to go to meet the Messiah is a manger. It happens that, after so much waiting, “there is no room for the Savior of the world, for Him for whom all things were created (cf. Col 1:16)” (Benedict XVI, The Infancy of Jesus, 2012, 80). The shepherds thus learn that in a very humble place, reserved for animals, the long-awaited Messiah is born and is born for them, to be their Savior, their Shepherd. A piece of news that opens their hearts to wonder, praise and joyful announcement. “Unlike so many people intent on doing a thousand other things, the shepherds become the first witnesses of the essential, that is, of the salvation that is given. It is the humblest and the poorest who know how to welcome the event of the Incarnation” (Apostolic Letter Admirabile signum, 5).

Brothers and sisters, let us also ask for the grace to be, like the shepherds, capable of wonder and praise before God, and capable of safeguarding what He has entrusted to us: talents, charisms, our vocation and the people He places beside us. Let us ask the Lord to be able to discern in weakness the extraordinary strength of the Child God, who comes to renew the world and transform our lives with his plan full of hope for all humanity.

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APPEAL

I extend a cordial welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. In particular, I greet the parishes of Rapallo and Ponza, the Tulié military school in Milan and the students of the Marcello Candia school in Seregno.

I affectionately welcome the pilgrims from Alba Iulia in Romania, accompanied by their Archbishop.

And I think of the many countries that are at war. Sisters, brothers, let us pray for peace. Let us do everything for peace. Do not forget that war is a defeat. Always. We were not born to kill, but to make people grow. May paths of peace be found. Please, in your daily prayer, ask for peace. The tormented Ukraine ... how much it suffers. Then, think of Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, North Kivu, South Sudan. So many countries at war. Please, let us pray for peace. Let us do penance for peace.

Finally, my thoughts go to the young, the sick, the elderly and newlyweds. The day after tomorrow we will celebrate the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the first spreaders of the faith among the Slavic peoples. May their testimony help you to also be apostles of the Gospel, a leaven of renewal in life, personal, family and social.

My blessing to all!

GREETINGS

I welcome the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially thosefrom England, Northern Ireland, Malta, Sweden, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States. I greet in particular the seminarians from the Pontificial Irish College and I assure them of my prayers for their studies for the priesthood. With wishes that the present Jubilee of Hope may be for you and your families a time of grace and spiritual renewal. I invoke upon you all the joy and peace of the Lord Jesus.

Short greetings in other languages not included here...